That a host of states — namely the United Arab Emirates and Egypt — have backed Hifter on the premise that only his forces can counter violent extremism is unquestionably paradoxical. Important to note is that there are major differences between Libyan Salafi groups, with some in Hifter’s camp and others against him.

TAIZ, Yemen — In 2017, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on a powerful Yemeni Islamist warlord, accusing him of being a “prominent military instructor” and fundraiser for #al-Qaeda who had also at one point “served with” the Islamic State and financed its forces.

But Abu al-Abbas is not on the run. He is not even in hiding.

By his own admission, Abbas continues to receive millions of dollars in weapons and financial support for his fighters from one of Washington’s closest Middle East allies, the United Arab Emirates [..]

The civil war in Darfur robbed Hager Shomo Ahmed of almost any hope. Raiders had stolen his family’s cattle, and a dozen years of bloodshed had left his parents destitute.

Then, around the end of 2016, Saudi Arabia offered a lifeline: The kingdom would pay as much as $10,000 if Hager joined its forces fighting 1,200 miles away in Yemen.

Hager, 14 at the time, could not find Yemen on a map, and his mother was appalled. He had survived one horrific civil war — how could his parents toss him into another? But the family overruled her.

“Families know that the only way their lives will change is if their sons join the war and bring them back money,” Hager said in an interview last week in the capital, Khartoum, a few days after his 16th birthday.

The inquiry focuses on whether people from Middle Eastern nations — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — used straw donors to disguise their donations to the two funds. Federal law prohibits foreign contributions to federal campaigns, political action committees and inaugural funds.

Across #Europe and North America, support for democracy is in decline. To explain this trend, conventional wisdom points to the political extremes. Both the far left and the far right are, according to this view, willing to ride roughshod over democratic institutions to achieve radical change. Moderates, by contrast, are assumed to defend liberal democracy, its principles and institutions.

The numbers indicate that this isn’t the case. As Western democracies descend into dysfunction, no group is immune to the allure of authoritarianism — least of all centrists, who seem to prefer strong and efficient government over messy democratic politics.

Strongmen in the developing world have historically found support in the center: From Brazil and Argentina to Singapore and Indonesia, middle-class moderates have encouraged authoritarian transitions to bring stability and deliver growth. Could the same thing happen in mature democracies like Britain, France and the United States?

Across Europe and North America, support for democracy is in decline. To explain this trend, conventional wisdom points to the political extremes. Both the far left and the far right are, according to this view, willing to ride roughshod over democratic institutions to achieve radical change. Moderates, by contrast, are assumed to defend liberal democracy, its principles and institutions.

The Yazidis, who were recently the target of massacre, rape and sex slavery by Isis, are now facing forcible conversion to Islam under the threat of death from Turkish-backed forces which captured the Kurdish enclave of Afrin on 18 March. Islamist rebel fighters, who are allied to Turkey and have occupied Yazidi villages in the area, have destroyed the temples and places of worship the Kurdish-speaking non-Islamic sect according to local people.

Palestinian security forces have arrested one of the most prominent human rights activists in the occupied territories after he criticised the arrest of a Palestinian journalist in a Facebook post.

Issa Amro, who lives in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, is the highest profile victim of a growing campaign by #Mahmoud_Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, against journalists and dissent on social media.

Amro is the founder of Youth Against the Settlements, which has long-documented alleged abuses by the Israeli military and settlers in Hebron. He was already facing charges in an Israeli military court for his activism.

Because the attention of Western correspondents in Beirut is focused on serving the propaganda of the Saudi-US-Israeli camp in the Middle East, and because they are allies of the March 14 in Lebanon, there is an unreported story about Lebanon and ISIS. As soon as ISIS emerged, March 14 figures supported ISIS and even publicly. This guy, is a major March 14 figure (and is now the man in charge of all media for the pro-Saudi Lebanese Forces) wrote in 2013. It says: “Is ISIS against the Syrian regime: Yes. Is ISIS against Iran? Yes. Is ISIS against Hizbollah? Yes. Therefore I am with ISIS”. This sentiment, by the way, was pretty much the sentiment of Western powers in the region.

The sex crime statutes tend to be employed as a cudgel against political dissidents or people, often foreigners, with limited political power; ruling-class figures, in contrast, operate under a different set of informal rules. “The UAE elite enjoy impunity at home and the full support and protection of the UAE state when they break the law abroad,” said Nick McGeehan, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who works on the Gulf.

In private, Otaiba has made candid admissions about the sex trade in Abu Dhabi rarely seen from high-level figures in the region. In February 2008, “60 Minutes” ran a segment focused on Dubai that touched on sex work and trafficking industries. The next day, a friend from college emailed Otaiba. “I was looking for you on 60 Minutes last night. How big is the prostitution problem?” he wondered, according to a copy of the exchange obtained by The Intercept.

“I mean… why were you looking for me on a subject like that dog,” quipped Otaiba, before getting serious. “Its big but not blatant…meaning they’re not on the street corners.. its under cover in homes and apts.. not in your face type stuff. #Dubai is definitely more visible than abu dhabi.”

Israel could have had full and normal relations with its Arab neighbors long ago. Many years have passed since most Arab government in effect accepted Zionism.[...]

More recently, as an editorial in the New York Times observes, there has been de facto development of ties, in the absence of full diplomatic relations, between Israel and some Sunni Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. There also has been a warming of relations with Egypt, a relationship that had mostly been a cold peace since Sadat’s time. As the editorial correctly notes, such developments reflect how the political status of the Palestinians is not a top priority for most Arab governments, and indeed it has long had to compete with more parochial concerns of those governments. But the plight of their Palestinian brethren still is a salient issue for most Arabs, [...]

The kind of de facto and semi-secret relationships that have been developing are the wrong kind of Israeli-Arab relations. They are not in the best interests of the United States or of anyone else. Far from being a basis for peace and prosperity, they are themselves based on conflict, regional divisions, authoritarianism, and the threat or use of force. With regard to Egypt, the warming of ties with the regime of strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has to do with el-Sisi’s harsh internal crackdown and especially his bashing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is related to his willingness to cooperate with Israel in bashing the Brotherhood’s Hamas cousins in the Gaza Strip. With regard to the Gulf Arab monarchies, the dealings with Israel have to do with the determination of those regimes to expand their regional influence and to pursue their rivalry with Iran. That determination has become so strong in the Saudi case that it has led to the reckless aerial assault and consequent humanitarian disaster in Yemen—a situation that has gotten so bad that a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen is urging the Obama administration to delay a major sale of arms to the Saudis.

In short, the recently developing Israeli ties with these authoritarian Sunni Arab regimes are a matter of more regional conflict and instability, not more peace and prosperity.

Graham and his Joint Inquiry co-chair in the House, former Representative Porter Goss (R-FL) — who went on to be director of the CIA — say the 28 pages were excised from their report by the Bush Administration in the interest of national security. Graham wouldn’t discuss the classified contents, but says the 28 pages outline a network of people he believes supported hijackers in the U.S. He tells Kroft he believes the hijackers were “substantially” supported by Saudi Arabia. Asked if the support was from government, rich people or charities, the former senator replies, “all of the above.”

During the recent heavy rains across the UAE some individuals behaved irresponsibly on social networking sites, said officials. They shared photos and videos from accidents that occurred during the rainy days and circulated rumours about building collapses and people drowning in rain water, thereby, creating panic among public.

In addition, they ignored the great initiatives by the authorised departments and the heroic efforts by police and civil defence teams

Lawyer Yousef Al Sharif said some people shared videos and images of the weather in a manner that harms the country’s reputation and disrupts public peace. He added that as per law such acts are punishable. Violators can be punished with imprisonment and a fine not exceeding Dh1 million [$270,000] for spreading false information or rumours online that damages the reputation of the country.

Not designed for domestic consumption, the rare public comments from the PA’s intelligence chief had two purposes: to shore up financial support for the security sector from international donors, and signal the PA’s active involvement in protecting Israel’s security interests in the West Bank.

Saudi Arabia, which is leading air strikes against rebels in neighboring Yemen, has warned the United Nations and international aid groups to protect staff by removing them from areas held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, according to a letter that was seen by Reuters on Thursday.The short note sent by the Saudi Embassy in London on Friday said the intention was to “protect the international organizations and their employees,” presumably from coalition air strikes. [...]U.N. aid chief Stephen O’Brien acknowledged receipt of the note in a Sunday letter seen by Reuters and said the humanitarian community would continue to deliver aid across Yemen impartially on the basis of need.He reminded Saudi Arabia of obligations under international humanitarian law to facilitate access for aid. [...]U.N. sanctions monitors said in a report last month that the Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilians with air strikes and some of the attacks could be a crimes against humanity.The panel of experts documented 119 coalition sorties “relating to violations of international humanitarian law” and said that “many attacks involved multiple air strikes on multiple civilian objects.”